In his latest column, John Aldridge looks at a growing Liverpool partnership and why Saturday was a good day for Arne Slot
Hugo Ekitike of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team's second goal with Florian Wirtz during the Premier League match against Newcastle United at Anfield on January 31 2026
Hugo Ekitike of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team's second goal with Florian Wirtz during the Premier League match against Newcastle United at Anfield on January 31 2026(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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Anfield has been a much happier place in the last week. And much of that is down to the growing Liverpool partnership between Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz.
I loved the two goals Ekitike scored against Newcastle United on Saturday. Much has been made, and rightly so, about his second goal, but my favourite was definitely his first.
That was a proper striker’s goal, a toe-ender that beat the goalkeeper. Sometimes you don’t have to do a clever finish with the outside of the foot.
As a striker your primary aim is just to get the ball in the net and you just want to do that by any means necessary. And Ekitike clearly has that desire simply to score, he reacted so well after good play from Wirtz inside the area.
That said, his second goal was a real cracker and all his own work and he’s clearly a player with a lot of talent who is only just getting started.
That’s what excites me the most about Ekitike and Wirtz – they are both young and have so much more room for potential.
Liverpool have them both on long-term contracts and it’s clear they hit it off. With the likes of Rush and Dalglish, St John and Hunt, Toshack and Keegan and the more recent forward lines, the Reds have a long history of great strike partnerships and this has the makings of another.
I had one with Peter Beardsley and I’ve said before that Wirtz reminds me of my old team-mate, and not just because he wears the same jersey number.
Why? He runs with the ball in the same way as Peter, and that’s a massive compliment. Wirtz is an old-fashioned type of footballer in that he’s a dribbler and he’s mainly allowed to do what he wants.
An awful lot of the modern game is controlled by coaches and managers, but Wirtz really revels in much more of a free role. When a player has that sort of ability and quality you can’t take that out of them – it’s best to just let him get on with it.
Beardsley was a little bit stronger physically but that will come from Wirtz over time and you can already see him adapting to the rigours of the Premier League.
For me, the next step for Wirtz is getting himself around the penalty spot when the ball is out wide so he can get his head on a few more crosses and grab some more goals.
I remember saying earlier in the season that I thought he was a player and that people were getting on his back far too quickly during those difficult opening months.
It’s easy to forget he is only young and moving to a new country is not straightforward at any age, and now Wirtz is getting his goals and his assists. He’s the real deal – and so is Ekitike.
Newcastle fresh air
It was a real breath of fresh air at Anfield on Saturday – two teams who actually wanted to play open football and try to win game.
I knew it would be a good game as Newcastle United aren’t like the succession of robotic teams who have been turning up this season and just looking to stifle Liverpool.
Let’s be honest – it has worked for the most part so why wouldn’t teams do that? But it hasn’t made for very entertaining viewing.
But if you take on Liverpool by playing an expansive game, you have to be on top of your game and Newcastle weren’t, and Arne Slot’s side took full advantage.
The only downside for me was the first 30 minutes. It was so strange, I was wondering what I was watching as Liverpool just seemed intent on allowing Newcastle to have the ball.
To be fair, we coped with it well enough and were good at defending their set-pieces. And probably the worst thing Newcastle did was score as that woke Liverpool up and we took advantage of some poor defending.
But you can only beat what’s in front of you and we haven’t done that anywhere near enough this season.